| Cincinnati Reds | |
| Season: | 1970 |
| Misc: | National League Champions National League West Champions |
| League: | National League |
| Division: | West |
| Ballpark: | Crosley Field (since 1934) Riverfront Stadium |
| City: | Cincinnati |
| Record: | 102-60 (.630) |
| Divisional Place: | 1st |
| Owners: | Francis Dale |
| General Managers: | Bob Howsam |
| Managers: | Sparky Anderson |
| Television: | WLWT (Ed Kennedy, Pee Wee Reese) |
| Radio: | WLW (Jim McIntyre, Joe Nuxhall) |
The 1970 Cincinnati Reds season consisted of the Reds winning the National League West title with a record of 102 wins and 60 losses, games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in three straight games in the NLCS to win their first National League pennant since 1961. The team then lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series in five games.
The Reds were managed by first-year manager George "Sparky" Anderson and played their home games at Crosley Field during the first part of the year, before moving into the then-new Riverfront Stadium on June 30.
Buoyed by a lineup that included third baseman Tony Pérez, NL MVP catcher Johnny Bench, right fielder Pete Rose, center fielder Bobby Tolan and first baseman Lee May, the Reds got off to a 70–30 start. The Reds, who had been near the bottom of the NL in pitching in 1969, were aided by a young staff that included 18-game winner Gary Nolan (22), rookies Wayne Simpson (21) and Don Gullett (19), 20-game winner Jim Merritt (26) and record-setting reliever Wayne Granger, who appeared in a then-record 90 games in 1969.[8] Simpson, a hard-throwing former first-round draft pick, started the season 9–1 and earned an all-star berth. He was 14–3 before he suffered a season-ending arm injury with 30 games left.
Riverfront Stadium was opened in 1970, and it was the home of the Cincinnati Reds National League baseball team and the Cincinnati Bengals National Football League team. Located on the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, the stadium was best known as the home of "The Big Red Machine", as the Reds were often called in the 1970s. Construction began on February 1, 1968, and was completed at a cost of less than $50 million. On June 30, 1970, the Reds hosted the Atlanta Braves in their grand opening, with Hank Aaron hitting the first ever home run at Riverfront. Two weeks later on July 14, Riverfront hosted the 1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. This game is most remembered for the often-replayed collision at home plate between the home-grown Pete Rose and catcher Ray Fosse of the Cleveland Indians.
| 1970 Cincinnati Reds | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | CatchersInfielders | Outfielders | ManagerCoaches | ||||||
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 158 | 605 | 177 | .293 | 45 | 148 | ||
| 1B | 153 | 605 | 153 | .253 | 34 | 94 | ||
| 2B | 150 | 575 | 136 | .237 | 1 | 45 | ||
| 3B | 158 | 587 | 186 | .317 | 40 | 129 | ||
| SS | 101 | 265 | 69 | .260 | 1 | 19 | ||
| LF | 125 | 365 | 113 | .310 | 21 | 63 | ||
| CF | 152 | 589 | 186 | .316 | 16 | 80 | ||
| RF | 159 | 649 | 205 | .316 | 15 | 52 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 264 | 59 | .223 | 1 | 14 | ||
| 70 | 165 | 41 | .248 | 8 | 23 | ||
| 43 | 106 | 25 | .236 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 101 | 105 | 28 | .267 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 57 | 95 | 22 | .232 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 65 | 65 | 18 | .277 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 48 | 63 | 17 | .270 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 6 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 6 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | 250.2 | 18 | 7 | 3.27 | 181 | |
| 35 | 234.0 | 20 | 12 | 4.08 | 136 | |
| 35 | 210.2 | 14 | 10 | 3.59 | 97 | |
| 26 | 176.0 | 14 | 3 | 3.02 | 119 | |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 148.0 | 9 | 7 | 3.83 | 56 | ||
| 5 | 22.1 | 3 | 1 | 2.42 | 13 | ||
| 7 | 16.2 | 0 | 1 | 11.34 | 7 | ||
| 5 | 10.0 | 0 | 2 | 4.50 | 2 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | 6 | 5 | 35 | 2.66 | 38 | ||
| 65 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 2.59 | 63 | ||
| 44 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 2.43 | 76 | ||
| 35 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6.92 | 37 | ||
| 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6.75 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.00 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 6 |
See main article: article and 1970 National League Championship Series.
October 3, Three Rivers Stadium
| align=left width=22% | Team | width=6% | 1 | width=6% | 2 | width=6% | 3 | width=6% | 4 | width=6% | 5 | width=6% | 6 | width=6% | 7 | width=6% | 8 | width=6% | 9 | width=6% | 10 | width=6% | R | width=6% | H | width=6% | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| W: Gary Nolan (1–0) L: Dock Ellis (0–1) SV: Clay Carroll (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HRs: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
October 4, Three Rivers Stadium
| align=left width=28% | Team | width=6% | 1 | width=6% | 2 | width=6% | 3 | width=6% | 4 | width=6% | 5 | width=6% | 6 | width=6% | 7 | width=6% | 8 | width=6% | 9 | width=6% | R | width=6% | H | width=6% | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | |||||||||||||
| W: Jim Merritt (1–0) L: Luke Walker (0–1) SV: Don Gullett (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HRs: CIN – Bobby Tolan (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
October 5, Riverfront Stadium
| align=left width=28% | Team | width=6% | 1 | width=6% | 2 | width=6% | 3 | width=6% | 4 | width=6% | 5 | width=6% | 6 | width=6% | 7 | width=6% | 8 | width=6% | 9 | width=6% | R | width=6% | H | width=6% | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Cincinnati | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 3 | 5 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| W: Milt Wilcox (1–0) L: Bob Moose (0–1) SV: Don Gullett (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HRs: CIN – Tony Pérez (1), Johnny Bench (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
See main article: article and 1970 World Series. After their win in the NLCS, additional injuries to Merritt and Granger caught up to the Reds against the Orioles. In three of their losses, the Reds had leads of 3–0, 4–0 and 3–0. The Reds' only win came in Game 4 on a Lee May 3-run home run in the eighth inning.
1970 World Series (4–1): Baltimore Orioles (A.L.) over Cincinnati Reds (N.L.)
| align=left width=155 | Team | width=25 | 1 | width=25 | 2 | width=25 | 3 | width=25 | 4 | width=25 | 5 | width=25 | 6 | width=25 | 7 | width=25 | 8 | width=25 | 9 | width=25 | R | width=25 | H | width=25 | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Orioles | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 50 | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Cincinnati Reds | 7 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 35 | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Total Attendance: 253,183 Average Attendance: 50,637 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning Player's Share: – $18,216, Losing Player's Share– $13,688 *Includes Playoffs and World Series | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
See also: Minor League Baseball.